Asteroid 7482: When will the asteroid pass Earth today, should we be concerned and how to watch 7482 (1994 PC1) soar past according to Nasa

A GIANT asteroid is set to pass the Earth today in its closest approach since 1993.
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The asteroid, named 7482 (1994 PC1) will brush past the Earth at a speed of 43,754 miles per hour tonight.

Asteroid 7482 is more than a kilometer in width at 1,052m (3,451ft feet).

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The height of the asteroid makes it larger than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at 830m (2,723ft) high.

The asteroid will pass Earth this evening.The asteroid will pass Earth this evening.
The asteroid will pass Earth this evening.

The asteroid tends to make close visits to our planet and is classed as a 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid' due to its size.

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Here is everything you need to know about the asteroid:

How close will the asteroid come to Earth?

The asteroid will pass around 1.93 million km (1.2 million miles) from Earth.

It was discovered back in August 1994 by astronomer Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.

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On January 17, 1993, the asteroid made its closest known approach to Earth of 1,125,400 km (699,300 miles).

It is not predicted to come close to our planet again until January 18, 2105.

7482 will travel at 19.56km per second past Earth tonight.

Should we be concerned?

Nasa has ensured watchers that the asteroid is not to be of any concern when it goes past Earth tonight.

Their Asteroid Watch Twitter account said: 'Near-Earth #asteroid 1994 PC1 (~1 km wide) is very well known and has been studied for decades by our #PlanetaryDefense experts. Rest assured, 1994 PC1 will safely fly past our planet 1.2 million miles away next Tues., Jan. 18.'

How to watch

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Space fans can view the asteroid on the Virtual Telescope Project tonight.

The platform will start the live stream at 8pm, with the closest approach set to take place at 9.51pm.

The asteroid will be too dim to see with binoculars or the naked eye but you can track 7482 on eyes.nasa.gov.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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